Page 7 - The Cormorant Issue 14

A Message From the Secretary of State for Defence to the graduates of ACSC 14
Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP Secretary of State for Defence
You are the future strategic leaders of Defence. I hope the months you have spent at Shrivenham have helped challenge pre- vious assumptions and broaden your hori- zons. You will have come into contact with many people, military and civilian, from home and abroad, all with unique insights from which you can learn. Defence is a human endeavour. You can study strategy, command and leadership as a science, but
ultimately the exercise of command is prey to all the strengths and weaknesses of the human character. Knowing yourself is an essential step. So is the ability to judge rationally the beliefs and motivations of others. I hope these last few months have provided an opportunity to do that and I wish you the best in your future careers.
Throughout your studies you have looked across the spectrum of Defence and the difficult issues facing us. This has been a tough year for the UK’s Armed Forces and it is not likely to get any easier in the short term. The operational tempo remains high, particularly in Afghanistan and Libya, where significant progress is being made. But operations of this nature put pressure on service personnel and their families. This is faced with the pro- fessionalism, and self-less commitment, that are the hallmarks of voluntary service. I am determined that as a country we never take this for granted. That is one of the reasons for putting the new Tri-Service Armed Forces Covenant into the law of the land. However, the country’s financial position does not allow for quick fixes – rather it requires taking tough decisions.
These have had to be made across Government, including in Defence, to reign in the runaway fiscal deficit. Some of these have been painful for the Armed Forces, not least the reductions in personnel and changes to allowances. So I want to take this issue head on.
The true test of Government is to act not for party political advan- tage or to court popularity, but to act in the national interest. Fis- cal responsibility is in the national interest because, as your study of history will have shown you, relative economic power is the wellspring of strategic strength. When the annual interest being paid on the national debt is more than the budgets of the MOD, FCO and DfID put together, it is clear that restoring health to the public finances is not only an issue of economics - it is an issue of national security too. Economic strength is central to sustain- ing in the long-term, Britain’s military power, reach and influence.
It is not only the national finances that need tackling. Address- ing years of over-programming in the MOD would have been required regardless of fiscal tightening. There was no choice but change. Even if we had been able to throw money at the prob- lem (which is not possible in the current circumstances) dramatic reform would have been required because if we did not deal with the systemic problems that led to such a huge bow-wave in the defence programme, the same problems would have built up in a few years time. So the nettle had to be grasped and we have put in place reforms, such as the Major Projects Review Board, to prevent over-spending and improve financial accountability.
The Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) has enabled us to begin dealing with the finances, and also to chart a course towards an adaptable force structure better able keep Britain safe in a future of diverse and evolving threats. Of course the individual decisions we have taken have been controversial – that is the nature of taking tough decisions. If the solutions were all straightforward and pain-free, they would have been imple- mented years ago. We have had to take calculated risks against certain capabilities while we rebuild. But the SDSR has ensured that Britain remains in the premier league of military powers. We have the fourth largest defence budget in the world and continue to meet the NATO 2% of GDP requirement.
By 2020 the Royal Navy will have new aircraft carriers, a high read- iness amphibious capability and a new fleet of Type 45 destroyers and Astute class submarines. The RAF will be built around hi-tech multi-role jets and a new fleet of strategic and tactical aircraft; and the Army, based on Multi-Role Brigades, will be powerful and flex- ible. Future Force 2020 will be supported by advanced technol- ogy in areas such as cyber, UAVs and intelligence as well as sig- nificant additional investment in Special Forces. Britain will remain one of the few countries who can deploy and sustain a brigade sized force plus its air and maritime enablers almost anywhere in the world. And we will remain a nuclear power, maintaining a minimum credible nuclear deterrent.
For those of you from the UK, this is the shape of the Armed Forces you will inherit in the senior positions you will go on to fill. You have gained significant operational experience over the last decade. In many ways, Future Force 2020 will be the most battle-hardened British Armed Forces since the 2nd World War. We cannot predict with any certainty where new conflicts will break out in which British or international security requires inter- vention. But if the last decade is anything to go by, the require- ment for deployable expeditionary forces is unlikely to diminish. The operations of the future will throw up new challenges and you will have to grapple with the continuing evolution of warfare. No matter how important the advanced capabilities you will have at your disposal to contribute to international security, it will be people who will make the difference. Success will be achieved by those best able to understand the situation and to adapt.
One of the most positive aspects of the Advanced Command and Staff Course is the opportunity it provides for different nationalities to learn alongside each other – and to learn from each other. Each of us, to some degree is the product of our national culture, national mythology and national traditions. The more we can challenge preconceptions and recognise the inter- ests we hold in common, the easier it will be to work together to tackle common threats. The global era we are entering, as I am sure you recognise is one in which no single country can hope to protect its national security by acting alone. Your generation will be required to cement traditional relationships, but also to forge new ones. You will be among the leaders in this new age. I know that you will not let us down.
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